I walked around Vyšehrad on Sunday and it was especially beautiful under snow. There were a lot of people there having a relaxing Sunday stroll. Kids were enjoying the fresh snow. Some even brought their saucers and were sliding down some hills in the park.

View toward the Church of Saints Peter & Paul (Chrám sv. Petra a Pavla)

St. Martin’s Rotunda (Rotunda sv. Martina) - the oldest preserved rotunda in Prague, built at the end of the 11th century

As of January 1, 2008, The Prague Public Transport Fare Increase is a reality. The Prague Public Transit Company rang in the New Year with new ticket prices. The increase did not end up being as high as was originally expected but it is still a noticeable change. A transfer ticket went up from 20 Kč to 26 Kč and a single-use ticket now costs 18 Kč instead of 14 Kč. A yearly pass is 4,750 Kč instead of the former 4,150 Kč.

There was a serious shortage of the newly priced tickets yesterday when it was nearly impossible to buy any. The situation was supposedly corrected by this morning but in reality, it was still an adventure to buy tickets. I was eventually able to find them, so here they are:

More information about new ticket prices can be found on our site at www.myczechrepublic.com/prague/tickets_fares.html.

It’s Christmas and we’re spending a nice, relaxing time at home. The gifts were all given last night, on Christmas Eve, as is customary in the Czech Republic. As every year, some people were still gift shopping yesterday. I’m glad we were not among them. We kept busy doing some last-minute cleaning, wrapping gifts, making potato salad and frying carp for dinner.

I bought our Christmas tree on Náměstí Míru last Wednesday. It is 1.3 meters tall and came to 400 Kč. It was shedding needles as I was decorating it yesterday and it is already turning a rusty color. I wonder how long ago it was actually cut.

Getting the carp was a bit more dramatic. In the Czech Republic, you can either buy carp live and keep it in your bathtub until it’s time for you to kill it (!!), or you can have it killed and cleaned by the vendor right in front of you. Neither is a pleasant experience for an animal lover like me, so I had Jeff go out and bring back some carp fillets. He came back with a bloodied bag and ”very fresh” carp, which had supposedly already been floating dead in the tub before he bought it. I tried to believe him…

Here are some pictures of the season:

Christmas market on Náměstí Míru, ended yesterday

Christmas market on Old Town Square, open till January 1

A Christmas tree vendor - choose your tree and take it away, or have it wrapped for an additional 20 Kč

A carp vendor on Národní třída

P. S. I had carp and potato salad for breakfast.

The Czech artist David Černý created a life-size sculpture of Sigmund Freud, which was originally installed on Jilská Street in Prague. The sculpture was hung on a metal rod over the street from the top of a building. According to an article on the České Noviny (ČTK) website, the sculpture has been shown in Europe and in the U.S. In Grand Rapids, Michigan, the latest city to host the installation, the “Hanging Man” was hung on a seven story building and a number of citizens thought it was was a real person who had taken their own life. The sculpture will make it back to Prague one day, so if you see it here, you’ll know it is just Freud hanging out.

The “Hanging Man” in Prague

This year’s largest Prague Christmas markets will run from December 1, 2007 to January 1, 2008 on Old Town Square and Wenceslas Square. No matrioshkas and army hats will be on offer, says Taiko, a company that has organized the markets for several years.

You can read more about Prague Christmas markets on our site at www.myczechrepublic.com/prague/christmas-markets.html

I can’t believe Christmas time is coming up again!